Pedro Seiler, Class of 1996, is a cultural producer, founding partner of Queremos! (which has brought to Rio and other cities in Brazil several concerts and shows in the last 9 years, apart from the Queremos! Festival). He worked at Biscoito Fino Records, produced national tours of several artists such as Maria Bethania, Simone and Zelia Duncan, in addition to the Chico Buarque Chico Bastidas project. He curates and conducts music for various events and festivals such as the Paraense Invasion, Bahia Invasion, Sai da Rede, Rio Occupation (London), Open Air, Rider Weekends and the Experimente (Multishow) program. He is part of the Super Juri of the Multishow Prize and the Latin Grammy Academy. Here is a bit more about Pedro Seiler:

1- Tell us about your path after school, college and professional life – What prompted you to seek a project like “Queremos”?After school I went to university at PUC Rio, for Business Administration. Throughout the entire course I did internships in different areas such as Record Label, Trade, E commerce and Real Estate. Later on I did a Post-Graduation at FGV in Entertainment Executive Production.

From 2002 to 2007 I was executive producer at Biscoito Fino record label. There, I was able to work with the most important artists in Brazil and also began doing some tours with them. Maria Bethania, Chico Buarque, Mart’nália, João Donato, Paulo Moura, Casuarina, Simone are some examples.

In 2007 I decided to start my own company and became a freelancer working on musical direction, curation of events, content for TV shows (like Experimente), soundtracks and also creating new events such as Invasão Paraense, Invasão Baiana, Sai da Rede, etc.

In 2010 Queremos! was born and the project goes on until today. It started very informally as an idea between friends but quickly turned into a business.

2- What are the challenges and expectations with this project?
It is very difficult to have a company in Brazil, it is extremely difficult to work with culture and entertainment in Brazil and besides that we have the currency variation. So I can say it is very very tough.

But we are very happy to have helped change the cultural aspect of the city and then expand it do other cities, building a platform and building a festival.

3- Where and how can you say that your school life at TBS may have helped in your profession? What would say are the differential of your academic formation? I clearly see the formation of the school helping out in several aspects of the job. Communication, general knowledge, logical thinking, diplomacy, leadership…

Most of my contacts are in English also.

4- Is there a moment in your life at TBS that has been significant and that you can say that it qualified you to be who you are today?
It is hard to choose a single moment of my academic life. For me, it is more like the time I spent in school that helped me to become who I am and gave me the tools to carry on.

5- Tell us about what you aim as human being, your goals and projects for the next 5 to 10 years? For the next years I really hope we can make the world a better place and we can pass through this terrible wave we are seeing of conservative attitudes. Help to fight prejudice, racism, transform the city we live in and do that by culture would be a great way.

The Albuquerque Sá family, of 3 children, studied at The British School through 3 decades. In 2008, their parents told us of how they were doing:

“Marcelo Sá ’1996, the eldest son, finished the IB Diploma at TBS in 1996 and went to Bentley College, Massachusetts-USA, where he graduated in International Relations. He was always very active in school, participating in the school’s futsal and basketball team, taking home with him several medals from the RANCHOs he went to. He is now at Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, responsible for the area of ‘institutional communications’ focusing on the CVRD’s perceived image in the market.

Fábio Sá ’2000 left the school in 2000 and decided to stay in Brazil. He, who was also very active in school’s sports and other matters, entered PUC-RJ via ENEM and in 2004 graduated in Publicity and Marketing (Publicidade e Propaganda). He is currently Commercial Manager for Esporte Interativo.

Thaissa Sá’2005, our youngest, always very responsible and dedicated to all she puts her mind to. Thaissa, entered PUC-RJ in 2006, via ENEM, for in Publicity and Marketing (Publicidade e Propaganda). At the end of her first year at PUC she was awarded a scholarship for her excellent academic achievements. When the award was given, Thaissa had gone to the USA for a ‘holiday work experience’ and therefore, her mother and bother represented her at the ceremony.”

Rafael Mellin de Campos’1996 (AKA Sael) wrote to us in December 2010: “(…) It’s been 14 years since I graduated from The British School, Rio de Janeiro. Right now I’m 31, married, and a happy father to a beautiful baby girl. I work in the film/tv industry and I enjoy immensely what I do. I don’t mean to brag about any of this, but there’s really not much I can complain in life. Actually, I can’t think how one could be much happier than this. Life’s been pretty good, to say the least.

And I truly believe that a lot of what I’ve achieved in life so far, has to do with what I learned in school. Even now, years later, I often catch myself thinking of the huge role that teachers had in my life – and in the lives of my close friends from the Class of ’1996. We still keep in touch, most of us, and it’s not rare that we talk about the days in school and some of the hilarious and disastrous events we had. And we always remember it all with a smile on our faces, with a great sense ofgratitude and saudades (can’t think of a better word to precisely describe this).

(…) So, the most important thing I want to say is: thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to teach us a lot of what’s important in life. And I don’t mean just within the subjects… Thank you for helping to create the environment that we spent most of our childhood and adolescence in, and that have shaped, in so many ways, who we became as adults.

Thank you for providing us with just the right balance of discipline and care; for knowing when to reprimand and when to forgive. Thank you for insisting to teach students that spent half of the class drawing waves and surfers on the notebook – sorry for that, … And thank you – dare I say it – for the great amount of homework we had! I don’t remember it much fondly, but I admit that all the deadlines and reports taught me to deal easier with a lot of work stuff later.

Well… In conclusion, I believe that the person I became is a direct result of the education I had – from my parents and from my teachers. And I can’t think of better teachers than the staff we had.

I can only hope I’ll have such a positive impact in other people’s lives as my teachers had in mine. Once again, thanks.”

As the clock ticks down to the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, one of that country’s own is keeping fellow planners focused and inspired. Marcelo Sa ’96 is assistant to the CEO of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee. To learn more about the summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, visit www.rio2016.com.

“Before becoming a TV Series on Multishow (Globosat Brasil), “Nalu” was produced in film format, with 30.000 copies distributed via Fluir magazine. In 2009 and at the beginning of 2010, the movie was shown in festivals, competing against great international productions, and it seems to have pleased the audience.

Awarded prizes:

- St. Jean de Luz International Surf Film Festival, France, 2009 (Juri Special Prize)

- Alma Surf Festival, São Paulo, Brazil, 2009 (Best Motion Picture)

- Fluir Prize, Florianópolis, Brazil, 2009 (Best Motion Picture)

“Thank you to the entire crew who were part of the project since the beginning. Special thanks to Pato and Fabi [parents of Nalu], who insisted for a quite a while for it all to happen.” – “Nalu – The Film”

A NX Zero band success, the video clip “Espero a Minha Vez” was awarded Best Video Clip prize for 2010 for the Multishow Award.

The video clip was directed by Daniel Ferro’96 e Cesar Ovalle. It shows a little bit of the band’s routine, with parts of concerts, back stage and some images of the banda at the recording studio. Some other parts of the clip were also taken from the DVD “Sete Chaves”, also directed by Daniel Ferro’96.

Marcelo Sá’96 and Clara’s daughter, Helena, was baptised on March 27th 2001 at Mosteiro Irmãs Clarissas, Gávea, Rio de Janeiro. Her godparents, Fábio Sá’00 and Thaíssa Sá’05, are certainly proud of their little angel!